Wrapping Up Our Peace Corps Service - COS Conference

Cathy:  There has been a long time gap between now and our last blog post. Steve and I made the decision to leave three months earlier than the "assigned" June 10 exit date. We could not write about our plans because they needed to remain secret. We also wanted to be sensitive to people who might read the blog.

Because we both had been in country with (what can only be termed) bad assignments, we felt unhappy about our Peace Corps service. This was true for the majority of the time we were in Belize. My work with POWA had been terminated officially in early February 2012. I found things to do in Dangriga - taught Health and Family Life Education to kids in Standards III, IV, V, and VI at three schools, started the girls club, and led the Zumba exercise classes. Those were all good small projects (they averaged about 8 hours a week), and I derived a lot of satisfaction from them.

Of the two of us, Steve had the least to do. Steve was taken off his assignment at the Polyclinic in October 2011, and then reassigned to the same project about February of 2012. Unfortunately, nothing changed regarding the work partners commitment to working with a PC volunteer was practically nil. Steve spent very little time in contact with the people there, less than 3 hours a week, despite trying to "drum up" work many times with many different organizations. As he got to know the Cayetanos, he enjoyed doing the woodworking project for them. He also helped Anthony, the young boy who lived downstairs, with his homework almost every night.

Then in March of 2012, Steve was asked to participate in rewriting the Community Health Worker training manual, and he brought me on board. Writing that manual was quite a challenge, and we are both extremely proud of our work with the Ministry of Health. We completed the last of the drafts in January of 2013. Although we were challenged and happy with our work product, the work was not fulfilling in the way that working directly with Belizeans would have been. Basically, it was a sit-down job, researching, writing, and creating illustrations. Contact with the MOH was primarily through email and telephone.

Once the "book" was complete, we felt it was time to come back to the United States. Our country director was very understanding and sympathetic to our situation, and was able to obtain an exit status of "Interrupted Service" which will allow us to work with Peace Corps again if we ever wish to do so.

So . . . these last entries are a short recap of our last few weeks in Belize. We'll start with a description of our last official Peace Corps meeting - the COS Conference.

Steve:  The Close of Service Conference is a time for reflection of what our service in Belize has meant to us. It is also a get together with all the volunteers and all of the Peace Corps staff people for some “thank you” and some “good-bye” talks with each other.

It started with a cook out at the home of our country director. This was an all afternoon thing, and I think we all ate way too much delicious food. The next day we caught the bus to Cayo (San Ignacio Town) and checked in at the Cahal Pech Resort. It is right next to the Mayan archeological site with the same name. The manager of the resort smiled a special smile each time she told Cathy and me that we had the honeymoon cabana.

We had sessions to talk about our milestones as well as sessions about making the transition back to life in the US with gainful employment for some and graduate school for some. There was also a session where the top staff people went around the room and said something special about each of us in the volunteer staff.

Cathy participated in a role play as an interviewer.

We also had a surprise for the staff people. At lunch the last day we staged a flash mob. The director thought at first we had lost our minds. We used a mash-up of four songs (Hot Cheetos and Takis, Summatime, Gangnam Style, and We Are the World 25) that we could sing and dance to. We finished with “We are the World” after we went out and fetched each staff person to come and join us in a circle.

Twenty-five PCVs plus staff

Basically the entire three days were one gigantic “warm fuzzy” for everyone with lots of hugs and some tears (of happiness).

The Ambassador and his wife joined us one night for dinner.

Mrs. Thumalapally is every bit as qualified as her husband!

These are the education PCVs who worked with Mrs. T.

Our good friend, Shaz, participating in the "fun fact" exercise.

People participating in the photo scavenger hunt.

Some fun during a break

Winter is Over!

Some interesting and unusual things have happened in the last week or so. Last Monday a former Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter was in country with his wife Nancy and two close friends. Our country staff people put on a luncheon and program about what we are doing in Belize.

Cathy and I were invited to meet with him for a half hour before the luncheon and tell about the  training manual for the community health workers that we are writing. Country Director Nina Hernandez followed up by explaining how it will fit into the direction of Peace Corps in Belize. As we have mentioned in earlier blog entries, the emphasis for next year’s volunteers will be on health education, partnering with the community health workers in the rural villages.

After a wonderful lunch (I got excited about the fresh salad), some of our fellow volunteers gave presentations about their work in all the programs (health, education, and business development).

He posed for a picture with us. Cathy is right behind his wife in the middle, and I am behind Cathy. 

I have had fun working with my good friend Charlie Holliday (a transplant from northern California) on a project for Pen and Ingrid Cayetano. They have a door with great sentimental significance and wanted it used on a display cabinet in their house. It turns out that Charlie is a master wood finisher - mostly for marine applications, and he shares my reverence for beautiful wood. We have sanded the door and cleaned it up, but Charlie is still struggling to find a can of finish that will do justice to this wood.

Pen introduced us to a cabinet builder, Maurice Martinez, who has a woodworking shop with production level tools. I designed a corner cabinet for the door and delivered the precise dimensions to Maurice for the front door frame with mortise and tenon joinery. I think the wood for the frame is from a mango tree. We picked up the frame on Friday, and I was very pleased with his level of perfection. He is truly a craftsman.

Next week I will mount the door on the hinges and get some photographs. I have also selected wood for the back panels, and it has all harvested from Pen and Ingrid’s farm and is well seasoned.  We delivered the boards to get them planed and edged. I can hardly wait to see the grain. 

Taken from the upstairs at Pen's house.

You can see me through the palm frond working on the door. That's Charlie in the background in the blue shirt.

The highlight of the week is the visit by my sisters Nancy and Carol. They brought us lots of toys and goodies. They stayed one night here and left the next day for Tobacco Caye. Carol has been keeping us entertained with her photos and emails.

Yesterday I was able to spend the day with them and had a blast. In spite of many reapplications of sunscreen, I still got a little reddened. It was certainly worth the minor discomfort. 

We spent almost the entire day in Cap'n Doggy's boat, and I learned how to catch baracuda. We went snorkeling on the reef for a while and marveled at the beauty of the sea life. I also met many new friends yesterday and enjoyed good food with them. It was a wonderful time. 

Carol, me and Nancy - with Doggy in the boat

Steve is Helping Underfed and Malnourished Children

Steve here:

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Red Bank village about 45 minutes south of here. I went with my work partner, Tylon, who is a social worker leading the child nutrition project for our district. We pulled up benches and plastic chairs in the shade of the health post and had a wonderful audience of about thirty mothers and at least that many children. We talked about the nutritional benefits of Incaparina for children, especially during the first two years of life. We also worked with the visiting nurse who talked to the mothers about food preparation for children after weaning.

Community Health Worker is teaching mothers about weaning to
solid food. Mothers in Belize are encouraged to use breast feeding
for at least six months after birth.

We had cookies made from Incaparina to give away at the end of the session, and they were a really big hit. The mothers were hesitant to try the cookies until they saw how popular they were with their kids. We were also able to convince the mothers that the food supplement provided by the nutrition project was a good thing, and we convinced them to accept samples to use in their cooking at home. It wasn't an automatic sell. Just as with the cookies, the moms didn't jump to take the Incaparina. So I stepped up to someone and said, "Would you like to take it home and try it?" She took it, and then others joined in. they all took one, then came back for more. "I have a sister. Maybe I could take one to her." "My neighbor could not come today, but I will take one to her." Some of the mothers took four packages. So we're confident that the program got off to a good start.

On Saturday I was invited to a work project in Hopkins village where a fellow volunteer is assisting a co-op of women to prepare the Sandy Beach Restaurant for re-opening. The women cooked a sit-down lunch for all of us. The meal tells me that the restaurant should do well.

I got to do some woodworking and use my tools! I helped one of their children attach a new brace to a broken picnic table, and I cut boards and helped the ladies put a new top on the table. One of the best parts was getting to speak Garifuna with the women who were all good and patient teachers. 

This is Cathy here with my two-cents worth:

I spent the week at my computer working on the CHW manual. If I do this a lot, that's gonna be a sure-fire way to a BIG BUTT. I make myself get up every hour or so, but it's not enough! My brain gets pretty fried. OK, I'm through with the whining.

One thing I did for fun, was create some paintings for the Sandy Beach Restaurant. They are meant to be crude, rustic looking. I used rough cut board, and put latex wall paint as a background. Then used poster paint to paint in the simple pictures.  Here are a couple. More on the way.

This one will get trimmed and put on the door
of the women's bathroom

Garifuna woman clapping

Last blog entry, I mentioned that my Zumba class is doing well. Mondays we have more than 20, and we dance outside in the school yard. Thursday nights, there are fewer so we can workout/dance inside. Ava took some pictures of our last session. They are a fun bunch - really get into it.

Home-improvement projects on a shoe-string budget

Cathy and I are very grateful for the tools sent to us by my sisters and Cathy’s son. We have a great collection for basic projects.

Cathy teaches Zumba classes in the park by the sea and got a speaker-amplifier donated since she serves in the Peace Corps. Unfortunately it is heavy and has tiny wheels suitable only for rolling over smooth floors rather than Dangriga streets which have an occasional pothole. The break-through on this project was a set of bicycle training wheels from the cycle store. The wheel brackets are held to the wood frame with lag screws, and a couple of bungee cords secures the unit to the frame. We had to pay for the wheels ($16 BZ) and the boards ($9).

The shelves in Cathy's "crafts room" are made from one beautiful mahogany board, one foot wide and cut in two equal lengths. The boards are supported with crates and plastic buckets. The crates were donated by a friend here and the buckets were purchased at the Saturday market. This was our big splurge - $40 BZ.

Before we had any chairs we would sit in bed and read, but we couldn't lean against the window screens at the head of the bed without damaging them, and the lighting was not good after dark. So we made a headboard for the bed with three cross pieces attached to two uprights that are tucked into the valance to keep them in place. Mahogany, of course. They also provide support for a clip-on light to make it easier to see when we read in bed. Cost - $35.

Lighting in the kitchen was limited to an overhead fixture and a low watt bulb in the hood of the stove. Fortunately there are several duplex outlets that lend themselves to added lighting. For the counter next to the stove I mounted a light bulb socket on one side of a wood scrap and a surface mounted switch on the other side and suspended it from the under side of the cabinet. A short extension cord completed the connection. A similar set-up over the sink is shaded by a board that keeps the light from shining directly into the face of the person washing dishes. We paid about $5 for the wood, and $4 for the electrical parts.

We borrowed two of the sliding closet doors for tables. One is supported by three plastic sitting stools, and the other is supported on two crates at one end and by a small shelf unit made from a scrap board on the other end. Cost - $0.

I helped build a doghouse for Princess and her 7 puppies. A neighbor two houses down donated some scrap boards that looked like they had been used for a concrete form, and a neighbor across the street donated two pieces of galvanized roofing metal (known here as “zinc”). I cut the boards (mahogany, no less), and the dog owner, Anthony, drilled the holes and drove the screws. The only cost was for the screws - donated by Nancy and Carol.

We teamed up the same way to build three raised garden boxes for Ms. Loretta, a friend of Rafaela (Anthony’s mom and our landlady). The wood was rough cut and still wet, but it has beautiful grain and color. Ms. Loretta paid for everything.

Most recently we got an idea from Linda, another PCV who has been giving art lessons to Cathy. She wanted a drawing board made from Masonite. It works well for watercolor, graphite and colored pencils, and other art media.  The drawing paper can be mounted on the board. She suggested one small enough for carrying in a back pack and another larger one with a handle cut out for easy carrying. Masonite was $25 for a 4' X 8' piece.